Bruises
by WearerOfCapes
Summary: Vince has been beaten up. Howard is being very kind and trying to help. But sometimes when you help a friend in need, you find that you need something yourself...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is essentially shameless fluff. I'll be honest, I came up with the idea in a couple of seconds, and then sort of wrote it in half an hour. So I apologise profusely for any errors. It was a spur of the moment thing. There might be another chapter if people want to see them get together or already together. It is up to you. Enjoy the fluff.**

**Disclaimer: No, the Boosh is not mine, although give me a few thousand and a good agent and you never know... (muhahahahahaha!)**

"Ow. Howard, that really hurts."

"Look, I'm sorry. I need to clean the cuts." Howard was in the process of wiping the gash around Vince's left eye with an antiseptic wipe.

"Why does it sting so much?"

"It's antiseptic, Vince. Kills the bacteria."

"Feels like it's killing me."

"Calm down, okay? It's alright."

"It's not!" Vince flinched away as Howard wiped the last bit of blood off. "I'm gonna get a black eye! I'll never be able to cover it up. I look like a panda." He crossed his arms and looked away. It was true that his eye was beginning to bloom dark purple. He had another bruise on his other cheek, and more cuts on his forehead.

"It's your own fault." Howard muttered.

"How is it my fault?"

"You're the one who told him he had a big head."

"Well, he did! That hat really didn't suit him. No one with a big head should wear a fedora."

"That's as maybe, but you should have kept it to yourself."

"Sorry for speaking my mind." Vince scowled down at the floor. Howard sighed, and said:

"Come on, little man. It'll be fine, right? I know how you can make your eye a bit better."

"How?" He looked up a little, but still didn't make eye contact.

"Ice."

"What?"

"Ice. It'll make the swelling go down."

"Okay…" Vince watched as Howard went to the freezer and took out a small bag of ice cubes.

"Here." He said. "Hold that to your eye. It'll make it feel better." Vince took the bag, and held it over the bruised patch.

"Oh." He said in surprise. "That feels nice. Cold."

"See? I told you."

"Howard, you're a genius."

"Nah. Common knowledge."

"Well, I didn't know that."

"That probably says more about you than you'd want people to know." Howard said as he sat down next to Vince on the sofa. Vince hit him half-heartedly with the ice cubes, but smiled. Howard smiled back.

"Thanks, Howard."

"What for?"

"For trying to look after me. I know it's a difficult job. I'm a pain in the backside. I get into trouble. And you were right. This was my own fault. But you don't care, you just care about me."

"Yeah, well… You're my mate. It's my job to look after you."

"It's not, mate. I should be able to look after myself. But I can't."

"Vince, that's how it's meant to be. I've always looked after you, but you always save me from danger. It's right."

"Are you sure? Cause I'm not."

"Yes, Vince. Come on. You're the sunshine kid. It shouldn't be like this."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for."

"I do, Howard. I've done so many bad things, and you've always just put up with me, and-"

"Shh, shh, Vince." He held Vince, his usual repulsion at touching people momentarily suspended. "If anyone should be apologising, it should be me."

"No. Just… be quiet, Howard." Vince replied softly. So for a moment, they both were. Howard noticed that Vince's eyelids were beginning to droop, so he stayed quiet, his silence like a lullaby, lulling Vince to sleep. Well, he'd had a hell of a day, and it was two am. He sighed gently and closed his eyes too, listening as Vince's breathing slowed down. It was pleasant to just be here, with his best friend. Holding him close. Sleeping together. And that was what they did. They slept through the night, growing somehow even closer as the dawn arrived. When Howard awoke, long before Vince as usual, he kept as still as he could so as not to disturb him. Their faces were inches apart, and his raven hair was escaping from its cage of hairspray to tickle his cheek. Howard noted that even with all his bruises, his battle scars (and that cut on his eye was _sure_ to scar), he was still beautiful. There was a sort of love for Vince that he was feeling. It was somewhere between romance and friendship. He couldn't fathom it in any way. It was like a guilty secret, except that he knew Vince felt it too. He knew deep in the dark bloody pit that was his heart. He knew in his mind. He knew in his deepest being. This was what it was, how it was meant to be. It was his. His emotions. He looked at Vince, with his long eyelashes brushing his cheeks, with that hair, with his eyeliner totally rubbed off. With all his little imperfections that just made Howard love him more. He sighed and stroked his hair softly, gently enough not to wake him. Vince sighed and shifted in his sleep, and Howard closed his eyes again, wanting this moment to last forever.

**Sooo, what do you think? I love reviews as much as Old Gregg loves drinking Bailey's out of a shoe. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I just happened to see this story hanging about in my story list and thought 'I promised I'd update that, didn't I? And I never did, did I?' So I went and wrote the new chapter that was asked for. It is pure, shameless, fluff. To the point of sappy. But I was in the mood for that kind of thing. So here you have it, rounded off and all cute :3**

**Disclaimer: No, no, no, no, no. Nope. Not mine.**

Morning went on and as the sun's light grew brighter through the window, Vince began to wake up. He opened his eyes to see how close he was to Howard.

"Oh, god, sorry, Howard. I didn't mean to… I must have slid as I was asleep. Sorry, I'll move-"

"You can stay if you want to." Howard said. "I honestly don't mind."

"Really? You don't normally like being touched."

"It's fine, Vince. Stay there." Vince nodded and closed his eyes again. He yawned as the last remnants of sleep fled from his mind. He felt a twinge in his eye and looked up again.

"How does my eye look?" He asked.

"Purple. Battered. But alright, really." Vince smiled.

"I think… I don't think it matters what anyone else thinks. As long as you think it's okay." He paused. "D'you think I'll get scars from my cuts?"

"I think so, yeah." Vince groaned.

"Great."

"It's alright, Vince. They're just scars. It just shows what you've been through and what you've beaten."

"I think you'll find it was me who was gettin' beaten."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do. You gotta stop lying to make me feel better, Howard."

"I'm not lying. No one's going to judge you for a couple of little marks on your face. Cover them up if you must. It wouldn't matter. You always look good; I don't know what you're worried about." He gabbled the last sentence, hoping in a way that Vince wouldn't hear. But he did.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"I'm just telling the truth." Howard replied.

"More than some people do. More than you always do. More than I manage most of the time."

"Well… What does it matter? I know what you mean most of the time. I understand what you really mean."

"You always have done, haven't you?"

"Sort of." He smiled, as they remembered all the old times, the times when they'd been so happy and yet sometimes so sad, struggling to make their way at the zoo. And now here they were, struggling to make their way in the shop. But there was something else now. Something different.

"Howard?" Vince said. "Do you ever get the feeling we should be something else? Something better, and closer? So that we could always be like this, and I could hug you if I wanted, and we could talk properly instead of arguing all the time. And you could tell me all the stuff I know you bottle up, and I could tell you what to do about it. Don't you think we should be more than friends?" Howard was silent for a few seconds. Then he whispered:

"All the time." Vince looked down and laughed a little.

"I knew it. I'm glad you're the same." He said.

"Me too." Vince shifted even closer to Howard, burying his face in his shoulder. He started to shake, and Howard looked down in alarm, thinking he was crying. But when he lifted Vince's chin, he was laughing.

"What are you giggling about?" Howard asked.

"I'm just happy. You love me, I love you, what's left to lose? I've been waiting."

"We've both been waiting, Vince. How long have you known?"

"Years. Absolutely years and years. How long for you?"

"Not long. Only a few days. Consciously, anyway. I think it's been a lot longer than that in the back of my mind."

"Mmm." Vince took a deep breath and turned around on the sofa, so he was facing out into the room. Howard shifted with him and Vince leant on him again. Howard's hands crept tentatively around his waist and Vince smiled, at ease and at peace.

"You know what?" He said. "If I died now, I'd die happy." Howard looked at him and raised his eyebrows, but realised he was right.

"Yeah. Me too." He said. It was true that he wouldn't mind death coming to them now. But only if it was the both of them. They were pretty inseparable to start with. He got the feeling that it wouldn't exactly stop now. Quite the opposite, in fact. Friendship and relationship; the partition was easy to cross, and after all, how many people now had mistaken them as being together? It didn't matter what people thought. It just mattered about each other. And if everything did go wrong, well, they would still be there for each other. They had been for so long now that any changes in the way they were could pretty much pass unnoticed. Howard sighed happily and bent to kiss Vince's forehead. Vince looked up at him and said:

"I just want to stay here forever now."

"Well, maybe forever is a bit too much to ask. But I'm sure we can spare another hour." So there they stayed, finally in a place that was comfortable for the both of them.

**I loved writing that. Like, a lot. I needed some cute in my life, and who better to provide it than the Boosh. Reviews would be fab-tastic!**


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